Hussey wary of Twenty20 demands

David Hussey, the Victoria batsman, has warned the new domestic Twenty20 competition could harm the games of players as they swing from four-day matches to the abbreviated contests. Hussey is a veteran of 14 matches after playing mostly for the English county Nottinghamshire and his message came as Cricket Australia launched its Twenty20 Big Bash, which starts in January.

"All players should be wary of it," Hussey told The Age. "It's not easy to transfer your game from Twenty20 into a four-day competition. They're both very different competitions and both are very difficult."

Hussey came second behind Dominic Thornely in a big-hitting contest at the Junction Oval yesterday, with Thornely striking a ball 130 metres. Thornely, the New South Wales batsman, told the paper he expected Twenty20 specialists to become a feature of the competition.

"The separation of the one-day and Test teams was a big deal, but since then selectors have picked specialist teams for not only different versions of the game but also for different grounds," he said. "The style of player in Twenty20 may not be the style of player you would pick in a Test or even a one-day team, so you would have specialist teams for that game as well."

James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said the competition was aimed at attracting new audiences and was one of the most revolutionary steps in Australian domestic cricket since the introduction of a limited-overs competition in 1969-70. "New rules, fast paced, action packed - the Twenty20 Big Bash will be a fun and easy way to connect with the sport for both the uninitiated and ardent cricket fans," he said. The Big Bash, which has each state playing two preliminary matches, starts on January 6 and the final will be held on January 21.